THE ONLINE SEMINAR
How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us
Session Six: Our New Motivator
Part 2
Sadly, John the Baptizer was cruelly executed by King Herod Antipas, king of the Province of Galilee, in 27 AD, and John’s messages on the banks of the Jordan River abruptly ended. However, the miracles, healings, and teachings of Jesus Christ soon caught the attention of some of John the Baptizer’s disciples, and they realized that Jesus was the person “coming after” the Baptizer who was going to implement God’s solution to human selfishness.
What did Jesus Himself say about John the Baptizer’s and the prophet Joel’s messages? Did He agree with them? He not only agreed with them, but He accepted personal responsibility for sending the solution down to earth from heaven. Here’s how that happened.
One evening in 30 AD, Jesus and his disciples were having dinner in Jerusalem. As they sat around the table discussing Jesus’s miracles and how He was going to be betrayed and executed, the subject of the disciple’s future came up and, to their surprise, Jesus took personal responsibility for sending a second personal motivator down from heaven that would overcome their human selfishness (their fears, jealousies, and pride). Here’s what Jesus told them:
“I’ll ask the Father, and He’ll send you another Comforter to be with
you forever. This Comforter is the Spirit of truth. The world doesn’t
accept Him because it can’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him
because He’s been living near you for months, and soon He’ll be living
in you.”
Now, we could say many things about this amazing statement. But the Spiritual principle we need to see is this: Even though the Holy Spirit had been “near” the disciples during Jesus’s time on earth, the Spirit had never been “in” them. He had never been their full-time inner motivator. That’s a very important fact.
To say it another way: Throughout history, the Holy Spirit had often been “near” chosen people – such as the prophets, or Jesus’s disciples. But the Spirit had never been in such people as their full-time inner motivator. Let’s think about that a moment. Imagine what would happen if the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and went inside people to be a second motivator of their behavior. How would they be different? Let’s hold that thought as we continue our story.
Immediately after Jesus made His historic statement to the disciples in Jerusalem, many shocking and tragic things happened. This session isn’t the place to retell all those things. We’ll touch on some of them in Session Seven. But the simple facts are that Jesus was betrayed, arrested, tortured, executed, and buried – exactly as He had predicted He would be.
Then, He stunned His disciples by returning from the dead and teaching them for 40 days. Next, He left the disciples and returned to heaven – exactly as He said He would. Many pages could be written about these events. In fact, bookstores and libraries are filled with books on the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. However, in this session, we want to stay focused on our theme: God’s solution to the problem of human selfishness.
So to continue, Jesus gave His disciples a special teaching during His last 40 days on earth. He taught them about a unique new Kingdom of God that was going to be formed on earth after He left them.[2. Jesus’s wonderful new Spiritual Kingdom would eventually be known worldwide as “Christianity.”] Jesus explained how the new Kingdom would work; and then He gave the disciples these final instructions before He left them:
“Don’t leave Jerusalem after I’m gone. Wait here for the gift My Father
promised – the gift I taught you about. As you know, John the Baptizer
immersed people in water. But in a few days, you’ll be immersed in
the Holy Spirit. You’ll receive Spiritual power when the Holy Spirit
comes in you, and you’ll be role models for Me in Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[3. Adapted from Acts, chapter 1, verses 4-5 and 8; with background information added from the first eight verses of chapter 1. Also, as explained in Part 1 of this session, the word immersed in Jesus’s instructions is a form of the First Century Greek verb baptizo – usually translated into English simply as “baptize.” But to First Century people, baptizo meant to soak something (in this case, the inner human spirit) in a substance (in this case, the Holy Spirit), long enough to change its basic makeup. Here, immersion in the Holy Spirit was to change the basic makeup of the inner human spirit by awakening it to Spiritual life.]
Now – notice three things about these final instructions. First, Jesus confirmed the messages of the prophets Joel and John the Baptizer by referring to the “gift” (the solution to human selfishness) that God had promised humans. Second, Jesus also confirmed the fact that the solution would be a “baptism” (an immersion) in the Holy Spirit. Third, Jesus added a new fact about the solution: When people were “baptized” (immersed) in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit would indwell them and become a second inner motivator for their outer behavior – a motivator with the potential to resist their natural selfishness and to make them role models of goodness throughout the world.
So – what happened after Jesus gave this incredible teaching to the disciples? He left them and returned to heaven. And what did the disciples do? They obeyed His instructions. A large group of them moved to a rooftop room in Jerusalem and stayed there several days, praying and waiting for Jesus to send the new motivator down to them from heaven.
Then, one of the most amazing events in recorded history occurred. Nothing like it has ever happened before or since. The event was more important than any war that was ever fought. It was more important than any nation that ever existed. It was more important than the invention of electricity, airplanes, and the Internet.
The event happened in the rooftop room in Jerusalem at 9:00 o’clock in the morning, on May the 30th, in the year 30 AD. History books call it the Day of Pentecost. But more specifically, that morning was the birthday of Christianity. It was the birthday of a new Spiritual Kingdom of God on earth. Here’s what happened.
In First Century Greek, the word pentecost (pronounced “pen’-tea-cost”) means “fiftieth.” Pentecost is the name of a one-day wheat harvest festival in Israel that comes fifty days after Israel’s Passover Feast.[4. Pentecost is still an important Jewish and Christian holiday. Jewish people call it Shavuot, the celebration of the spring wheat harvest. In England, Christians call it “Whitsunday,” because girls often wear white dresses to services that day. Many Americans don’t celebrate Pentecost at all. But, for congregations that do, they celebrate it seven Sundays after Easter. Some congregations celebrate it by hanging red wall banners, burning red candles, dropping red flower petals from the ceiling, or cutting a red cake in the fellowship hall (the color red symbolizes the fire of the Holy Spirit that came down from heaven on Pentecost morning).] But today, many people don’t realize that May the 30th, in the year 30 AD, was actually the birthday of Christianity. It was the day the Holy Spirit came to earth to indwell people, to immerse their spirits in power, and to give them an inner motivator with the supernatural power to overcome their natural selfishness.
To be more specific, here’s what happened. One hundred and twenty men, women, and children who had been disciples of Jesus were gathered in the rooftop room in Jerusalem, waiting and praying, just as Jesus had told them to do. The group included Peter and the other eleven apostles, as well as friends, spouses, and other relatives – including Jesus’s mother, His four half-brothers, and His several half-sisters.[5. Adapted from Acts, chapter 1, verses 13-15. Some people don’t realize that Jesus had a normal family, including a mother, a stepfather, four half-brothers, and three half-sisters. We know that’s true from these verses; and also from additional references in Matthew, chapter 13, verses 55-56; Mark, chapter 6, verse 3; Luke, chapter 8, verses 19-21; and John, chapter 2, verse 12.] It was 9:00 o’clock in the morning. Some of the disciples were probably praying. Others were probably having breakfast. Others were probably tending to morning chores. But what happened next almost defies description.
The Holy Spirit of God suddenly came down out of heaven with a thundering sound like the roar of a tornado. The disciples looked up and saw a river of fire pouring out of heaven. The fire filled their room and, as it did, it separated into 120 smaller flames that settled individually on each disciple. As these smaller flames “settled down in”[6. The literal First Century Greek of Acts, chapter 2, verse 3, reads that the Holy Spirit “settled down in” each of the disciples. This was the first time in history that the Holy Spirit permanently indwelled people’s bodies and immersed their inner spirits in Spiritual power.] each disciple, a wonderful thing happened. Each disciple’s mind was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit began to motivate them as a new inner motivator – one with the ability to produce the “fruit” of the Spirit in them (supernatural love, joy, peace, etc.), and to produce the “gifts” of the Spirit in them (supernatural visions, dreams, healings, etc.).[6. Adapted from Acts, chapter 2, verses 1-3.]
In fact, the very next thing the disciples experienced was an incredible gift of the Spirit, and they experienced it for an extremely important reason: God wanted the birthday of His new Spiritual Kingdom to be complete that morning. He wanted a full birth of His new Spiritual movement – one that would eventually be known worldwide as Christianity. God wanted to fully honor His promise to the prophets Joel and John the Baptizer that His solution for human selfishness was for all people everywhere. Thus, even though the disciples were in a rooftop room in Jerusalem, God still accomplished His international task before sundown that day.
Let’s go to Part 3 to see how He did that. Turn to Part 3 now.
All Domestic and International Rights Reserved.